Elbows Music Blog Community

But when Kenny G decided that it was
appropriate for him to defile the music of the man who is probably the
greatest jazz musician that has ever lived by spewing his lame-ass,
jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up
playing all over one of the great Louis's tracks (even one of his lesser
ones), he did something that I would not have imagined possible. He, in
one move, through his unbelievably pretentious and calloused musical
decision to embark on this most cynical of musical paths, shit all over
the graves of all the musicians past and present who have risked their
lives by going out there on the road for years and years developing
their own music inspired by the standards of grace that Louis Armstrong
brought to every single note he played over an amazing lifetime as a
musician. By disrespecting Louis, his legacy and by default, everyone
who has ever tried to do something positive with improvised music and
what it can be, Kenny G has created a new low point in modern culture -
something that we all should be totally embarrassed about - and afraid
of. We ignore this, "let it slide", at our own peril.

His callous disregard
for the larger issues of what this crass gesture implies is exacerbated
by the fact that the only reason he possibly have for doing something
this inherently wrong (on both human and musical terms) was for the
record sales and the money it would bring.

http://www.jazzoasis.com/methenyonkennyg.htm